On Friday, May 1, much of the world marks International Labor Day, or May Day.

On Saturday, May 2, the Kentucky Derby, the first in racing's Triple Crown, is to be held in Louisville, Kentucky.

On Sunday, May 3, the National Cable Television Association opens its annual convention in Atlanta.

On Monday, May 4, the Kent State Students Memorial Day will be observed.

On Tuesday, May 5, NATO chiefs of staff meet in Brussels.

On this day

In 311, Galerius Valerius Maximianus issued an edict under
which Christians were legally recognized in the Roman Empire.

In 1777, Johann Karl Freidrich Gauss, regarded as one of the
greatest mathematicians of all time, was born in Germany.

In 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as America's first
president.

In 1803, France agreed to sell Louisiana to America; on the
same date in 1812, it joined the United States as the 18th state.

In 1804, shrapnel, named after the British soldier Henry
Shrapnel, was used for the first time in warfare by the British
against the Dutch in Suriname.

In 1883, Edouard Manet, French painter, died.
Originally destined for a legal career, he studied art from 1850
and was heavily influenced by Claude Monet.

In 1900, American railroad engineer Casey Jones died saving
passengers as the Cannonball Express was about to crash.

In 1909, Juliana, queen of the Netherlands, was born; she was
queen from 1948 until 1980, when she abdicated in favor of her
eldest daughter, Beatrix.

In 1934, under a new constitution in Austria, a dictatorship
was established.

In 1945, Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide
in his underground bunker in Berlin; Russian troops penetrated
central Berlin, capturing the Reichstag and other government
buildings; Allied troops captured Munich and the French crossed
the border into Austria.

In 1946, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden was born. King since 1973,
he had much of his constitutional powers taken away by the
Social Democrats who pledged to eventually end the monarchy.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon accepted responsibility for
the bugging that took place in 1972 at the Watergate apartment complex; on the same date in 1974, he handed over partial
transcripts of tape recordings to the impeachment inquiry.

In 1975, in South Vietnam, President Minh announced an
unconditional surrender to the Vietcong.

In 1980, in London, armed gunmen seized the Iranian embassy
demanding the release of political prisoners in Iran; the siege
lasted six days.

In 1982, Alvaro Magana was chosen to succeed Jose Napoleon
Duarte as president of El Salvador.

In 1989, 500,000 people attended a papal mass in Madagascar
where Pope John Paul II beatified Victoire Rasoamanarivo, a 19th
century Madagascar woman.

In 1990, American hostage Frank Reed was freed in Lebanon
after nearly four years in the hands of pro-Iranian kidnappers.

In 1991, Major-General Justin Lekhanya, Lesotho's military
strongman, was ousted in an army coup.

In 1992, NATO appointed U.S. General John Shalikashvili as the
new commander of its forces in Europe.

In 1992, mutinous soldiers in Sierra Leone overthrew President
Joseph Momoh in a coup.

In 1997, Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmonov survived an
assassination attempt in which two other people were killed and 60 were injured.

Newslink

Happy birthday to the Netherlands' Queen Beatrix! Submerge yourself in all things Dutch by visiting the Flying Dutchman.